The 38-year-old actress held a sign in front of the public,
expressing her attitude towards the actions of Ukrainian
authorities who detained two Russian reporters on May 18.

The journalists’ fate remains unknown, as are their whereabouts.
Their lawyer Tatiana Khokhlova told RT that the current situation
demonstrates a breach of Ukrainian law.

“We’ve made an official contract with the Ukrainian lawyers,
as Russian lawyers can’t act on Ukrainian territory, and those
attorneys officially represent both Oleg Sidyakin and Marat
Saychenko. Unfortunately, over the last three days, our Ukrainian
colleagues weren’t able to meet with the men; it wasn’t possible
to determine their location or their legal status, so to
speak," Khokhlova said.

"Under Ukrainian law, after three days, either charges should
be pressed against them or restrictive measures should be chosen,
with all the legal proceedings taking place in the presence of
lawyers. However, all requests by the Ukrainian lawyers have been
met with a ‘No, those people aren’t registered’.”

The hashtag #SaveOurGuys has become popular online, with Russia’s
UN Mission, celebrities and fellow journalists posting pictures
of the sign on Twitter.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils
Muiznieks, has said that he is concerned over “reports on
attacks against journalists covering the events in Ukraine.”

“Press freedom is a fundamental human right. All actors must
fully respect human rights standards and refrain from any action
that puts journalists at risk. Journalists detained because of
their professional activities must be immediately released and
violations of press freedom should be sanctioned,” Muiznieks
stated.

Earlier on, Human Rights Watch demanded from the Ukrainian
government to immediately free journalists Oleg Sidyakin and
Marat Saychenko or make it clear what the charges, if any were
against them, said its statement received by ITAR-TASS.

HRW also called for the Ukrainian authorities to ensure the
journalists have access to a lawyer and consular services.

On Wednesday, LifeNews media outlet boss denied all Ukraine’s
accusations of illegally transporting weapons and “aiding
terrorism” against his employees.

The journalists held in Ukraine didn’t violate the Ukrainian laws
or conceal the purpose of their visit - they simply stated one of
the reasons they were in Ukraine, the outlet’s general director
Ashot Gabrelyanov told Interfax.

The detention of LifeNews reporters has been a subject of
discussions at the meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in
Vienna on May, 22.

Russia has expressed disappointment with results of the meeting
as Kiev ignored demands by the OSCE observer mission to let them
meet Sidyakin and Saychenko.

“[We] consider absolutely unacceptable the situation when
detained journalists are being denied meetings with lawyers,
consulate workers and OSCE representatives,” the Russian
Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Such actions by those
who rule in Kiev are a harsh violation of the universally
recognized norms and standards in the field of human rights,
observation of which is guaranteed by a number of universal and
regional international treaties,” it added.

Russian President Putin branded the Kiev’s position on the
detention of the journalists as “nonsense.”

Meanwhile, another journalist who had been reporting for RT from
Ukraine and was detained on May 20, Graham Phillips, was released
after 36 hours without any charges pressed.